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Talk to The Times: Answers About Charging Online

By The Editors January 21, 2010 10:07 amJanuary 21, 2010 10:07 am

Senior executives of The New York Times Company are answering questions from readers about the company’s decision to charge for frequent use of NYTimes.com, which will take effect in 2011. (For more details, read the company’s announcement and this article about it.)

Fielding questions is Janet L. Robinson, president and chief executive of the company, with assistance Martin A. Nisenholtz, senior vice president for digital operations. (They have concluded answering questions, with the most recent additions at the beginning of this post.)

Can’t Subscribe to the Newspaper

Q.

I am in a difficult position. I buy and read the physical paper every day religiously; have done so for over 50 years. I also have the Times website as my home page for internet access, where I read a few articles every day. I would love to subscribe to the paper and have delivery, thereby saving my 16-mile round-trip drive each day, and giving me free access to the website, but you do not deliver to my rural location. I will be forced to stop using the website even though I purchase the paper every day. HELP!! — Bob, Hamden, N.Y.

Q.

How will this differ from TimesSelect? Why was TimesSelect abandoned? What does this mean for people who do not live in a distribution area for the hard-copy edition?
— Lawrence, Dunedin, Florida

A.

We are very grateful for your dedicated and long-time readership. At this time, the only people who will receive free access when we launch in 2011 are home-delivery subscribers.

The metered model differs from TimesSelect in that it is for the entire site, not just the columnists and archives. TimesSelect grew to 227,000 paying subscribers, but we decided to take down the wall because search was becoming a bigger factor and advertising was more robust. We expect the new metered model to capture both –- allow us to remain a vibrant part of the search-driven ecosystem of the Web, and give us the flexibility to preserve our successful advertising business.

Gaming the System

Q.

“Visitors to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being asked to pay a flat fee for unlimited access.” Seriously, how is this going to be policed? Anyone can just create a new free account with another vanity email address & use a proxy server (new IP). — KiwiAussie, Downunder

Q.

Trying to imagine how you accomplish the “metered” approach technically? Does everyone have to log-in to read the first article? What if I read 10 articles per month per device? Do I stay anonymous and just delete the cookie? — Dan Peterson, Wisconsin

A.

We have a number of techniques available to make it more difficult for people to do as you suggest. At the same time, we are continuing to develop new features and functionality like personalization, which make it more valuable to establish a consistent identity on NYTimes.com.

Student Subscriptions

Q.

Will there be a student discount in subscription to The Times? Economist magazine has a somewhat discounted price for students, and it’s a good one. — Amin, Louisiana

Q.

As a full-time student, I am curious to know if you will offer a lower rate (for a full online or section subscription, not a per article fee) to those who read daily? — Lauren M. Athens, Ga.

A.

There is currently no student discount planned as part of the metered model. However students do receive a discount on newspaper home delivery and as subscribers would receive full access to the site for free.

Customer Service, Please

Q.

Please try to handle account management and billing skillfully, and provide adequate, competent customer service. (I had some frustrating experiences with a paid account in the past.) I use your Web site daily and will pay again when that becomes necessary, but if there are too many glitches with the commerce I will probably cancel my account and get my news some other way. I really don’t mind paying, but if you are going to take my money, please use at least a little of it to support adequate infrastructure. Thanks! — SK, North Dakota

A.

Thank you for bringing up this important point. We are determined to make subscribing as smooth and easy as possible. We are building an online infrastructure for NYTimes.com that will do exactly what you are talking about: provide our Web users with an uncomplicated, frictionless experience when they wish to purchase a subscription or take advantage of the fact that home delivery subscribers can freely access the site.

Can I ‘E-mail This’?

Q.

I am a long time reader of the NY times having subscribed for many 10+ years through The Globe and Mail to get the Sunday edition. I was wondering since I am a subscriber will I be still able to get the NYTimes.com at no charge? Secondly, will I still be able to send the e-mail link to others who may or may not be NYTimes subscribers so that they can open the link and read the article? Thank you in advance. — Efraim Ritter, Toronto

A.

We appreciate your being a longtime reader of The Times. The answer is, yes, all home delivery subscribers will get free access and yes, you can still send links to your friends.

Lessons Learned From TimesSelect

Q.

I just wonder, if charging people to view articles didn’t work a few years ago, why do they think it will work this time? — Kajikit, FL

A.

We learned a lot from our earlier version of a pay model, TimesSelect. We learned, for example, that people will pay for content online, particularly for a robust package of high quality Times content. We also learned that you have to carefully weigh the benefits of an advertising and a subscription model. And we learned that many NYTimes.com users believe what differentiates us is our journalism, the depth and breadth of our reporting and analysis.

Also there have been many developments in the online space since we took down TimesSelect. The tools and technologies that enable frictionless commerce have improved dramatically and fallen in price. We believe our customers are ready for this new model. Services like iTunes have paved the way for users to pay for digital content. And based on our research we now believe that a significant number of our best customers are willing to pay for access to the entire Web site, if they are not getting it free as a benefit of subscribing to the newspaper.

When Traffic Is Lost

Q.

Dedicated Times readers will likely pay for the site, but they’re going to struggle to gain new readers. And isn’t that the imperative issue of this generation for newspapers–getting new, consistent readership in a digital age? Has the Times considered the amount of lost traffic and thus lost advertising revenue? — Ted, Chicago IL

A.

We have carefully considered the impact this will have on readership and advertising revenue, and believe our approach will be flexible enough to preserve, even enhance, our digital advertising business as we build our online subscriber base.

Flat Fees

Q.

I am willing to pay a moderate flat fee, but will not use the site much if it is a per-article charge. Just so, I was willing to pay a flat rate for a newspaper, but would not let myself get charged for an article which I might glance at, find uninteresting, and move away from. — Coise, Seattle

Q.

I read the Times all over the world when I travel and all day long to keep up on the news I’m glad you will be charging as does the WSJ. I urge you to charge a straight annual fee anything else is a nuisance. — pbg, New York City

Q.

On the whole I would not mind to pay a flat fee for use of the paper. If we would be in the US we would get a paper issue to read, for which we would pay anyway. Being in China this is not an option because prohibiltively expensive, so we rely on the Internet. I check your Web site several times a day and I would not like to pay per article, too much red tape, too many occasions to have your credit card info stolen. But I have a question to the use of the Web site. Right now my husband and I both access your Web site on our respective computers with separate login names. Would that mean that we both have to pay for access in the future? Or would it be possible for the two of us to access the Web site with one account, but read the paper at the same time on different computers so we can share the paper as a family, like we would do with the paper edition? I hope you can find some solution. This could get kind of tricky. Thank you for your time. — M. Zuber, Beijing

A.

Thank you for your dedicated readership. Yes, it will be one flat fee for a monthly or annual subscription for access to the entire site, rather than micropayments. Web-only subscriptions are for individuals (not individual computer addresses, as we erroneously said earlier). Home delivery subscriptions allow for multiple online accounts in a household.

‘Punishing Your Biggest Fans’

Q.

Why are you punishing your biggest fans? — Kate, New Jersey

A.

We cherish our biggest fans, but we need to find additional ways to support our high-quality journalism. We have research showing that some of our most loyal readers are willing to pay because they know The Times brings them authoritative, intelligent and well-written news and opinion.

Puzzling Over Crosswords

Q.

I have enjoyed reading the NYT on line, especially when the op-ed was made available again. I do pay for the Crossword Puzzle access. If I have to ‘pay’ for the NYT; will this include the puzzle? It had better … — kwonset, Connecticut

Q.

I currently subscribe to the Times crossword online. Will I have to pay more to read articles? — Lewis, Washington, D.C.

Q.

I may not mind paying for your online access in 2011 if you include the crossword puzzle. right now I won’t pay to do the crossword by itself. Think about it! — Michael. Yreka, Calif.

A.

Our current thinking is that a subscription to the Web site will be separate from a crossword subscription. However, we will consider bundling them together for a discount.

Print Subscriptions? The ‘Weekender’?

Q.

Will subscribers to the newspaper be affected? Now I can get Times On Line at any time; will I be able to continue to do so?— Jonathan, Connecticut

A.

As we said in our announcement, all home delivery customers of The Times will continue to have free, unlimited access to the site.

Q.

Question 1: Will those who subscribe to the “Weekender” print edition of the Times still be required to pay for the online edition? Question 2: What will be the price for a paid subscription to the online Times? — L. R. Kalajainen, Scarsdale, NY

A.

Weekend print subscribers will have free access to NYTimes.com, as well. And regarding your second question, we have not yet determined the pricing for the new metered model.

Q.

I have a suspended subscription to the print edition while I am travelling. Do I have to pay to read the paper on-line wherever I am? — Mumbaiker, Mumbai

A.

As part of your print subscription, you will have unlimited access to the Web site and mobile versions of the site, which we recognize will likely be your primary source of New York Times content while you are traveling. A similar policy exists currently for access to Times Reader.

A Grandfather Clause?

Q.

Will you consider grandfathering in those people who have been registered and going to your Web site for a long time already? — John, Ghent, N.Y.

A.

There will be no grandfathering provisions in the new metered model.

What About Social Media?

Q.

What about posting articles to Facebook and other social media? Would friends without a subscription then not be able to view an article that I think is relevant for them? — Julie, Pinole CA

A.

Yes, they could continue to view articles. If you are coming to NYTimes.com from another Web site and it brings you to our site to view an article, you will have access to that article and it will not count toward your allotment of free ones.

Outside the United States?

Q.

Does this apply to overseas readers as well ? — alialhamad, Saudi Arabia

A.

Overseas readers will be treated the same as those in the United States.

Unlock the Archives!

Q.

Sure — O.K. — if a reasonable amount — $25-50 a year — but then NYT HAS TO open the archives too — absolutely!!! — robfwoods, Finland

A.

Yes, the subscription will include complete access to the archives of The New York Times.

For Kindle Owners

Q.

I have no objection to paying for content online; I was a TimesSelect subscriber and thought it was worth every penny. Currently I subscribe to the NYTimes Kindle edition. Any thoughts at this point as to how a Kindle subscriber might be treated in terms of access to the Web site? Thanks.— JJW48, Arlington Heights, Ill.

A.

Thank you for being such a dedicated reader. There are no plans at this time to bundle Kindle subscriptions with Web site subscriptions.

Why Wait?

Q.

Congrats on the decision to charge. Its absolutely the right one. Why are you waiting until 2011? — Darnell, Los Angeles

A.

Thank you for your support. Ultimately we recognize that our success will be judged by how well we execute this effort in the months to come. That is why we are waiting until 2011 to introduce this new system. We are determined to make subscribing as smooth and easy as possible. We will be working toward integrating our customer management systems so we can ensure a frictionless and engaging user interface for subscribers. It will take some time to build, test and deploy the right systems. It will take time to get this right.